


The Exception

by lies_d



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Drugs, Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-15 21:21:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9257828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lies_d/pseuds/lies_d
Summary: Getting high was an accident. Sleeping with Jared was a mistake. But now Richard has to deal with the consequences, both to his company and his view of himself.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [carrot-gallery](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=carrot-gallery).



The day had been hot, and now the night was cold, and Richard was completely done. Erlich had finally succeeded in dragging them all to Burning Man, only to get raving high and run screaming into the night with most of their blankets wrapped around him.

Richard drained the last of the tea from the thermos, but it was tepid by now and did nothing to warm him. In his sleeping bag beside him, Jared too finished what he had left in his small plastic cup.

They could hear music outside their tent. Dancing and shouting, footsteps in the sand as people went by. Talking talking talking, Richard had done nothing but talk to weirdos all day long. Rich weirdos, talented weirdos, and smart weirdos, this was true, but strange people nonetheless, and all that socializing had completely exhausted him. All he wanted to do was lay here in their tent and chill with Jared, who was his own brand of weird, but at least one that was familiar. Dinesh and Gilfoyle were still out somewhere. Richard had lost track of them a long time ago.

"Do you think there was something in that tea Erlich gave us?" Said Richard as he closed the thermos.

"Possibly," said Jared. "I do seem to be experiencing some visual disturbances. Things are getting... dancey."

 "That's a good way to put it," said Richard. He felt glad that he wasn't the only one, at least. He thought he should be more disturbed at the thought of being drugged, but for some reason he simply wasn't. A curious calm had come over him. So far whatever they were experiencing seemed to be a mild high - nothing to panic over.

"Wish it weren't so cold," said Richard. His clothes and his sleeping bag weren't doing enough to stave off the cold desert air.

"We could huddle for warmth. Double up our sleeping bags," suggested Jared.

It was strange - Richard knew that normally he would say no. But tonight it sounded like a good idea, and he wanted to say yes, so he did.

Richard unzipped his sleeping bag to let him in, while Jared scooted over to cover them both with his own. Jared opened his arms and Richard became the little spoon in their arrangement.

"Ha. Got me right where you want me now, don't you?" joked Richard.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," said Richard, but he wasn't sure he could explain it if called to. Something about the way Jared always looked at him. Something, he remembered, they weren't supposed to talk about, even though they'd never formally agreed to not talk about it.

Richard closed his eyes but he didn't feel like sleeping. While they both warmed up, he could feel Jared's breath against the nape of his neck, brushing the tiny hairs against his skin. It warmed him up fast. He began to feel Jared's heartbeat, and then he began to feel his own.

Shifting back to press himself flush against Jared, Richard heard a tiny gasp, and he could feel why. There it was, the evidence of Jared's feelings towards Richard, physical proof of all the things he'd left unsaid. Richard wasn't surprised. He was only mildly surprised at how aroused he was himself.

Richard turned around onto his back. Jared looked down at him with adoration in his eyes and for once it didn't make Richard want to shy away. Jared always had a hunger for him that neither could articulate. Now Richard felt it too, a warmth that sang in his blood, that made his skin want to be touched.

Jared's hand lay lightly on his side. Richard guided it downwards, until Jared could feel exactly how much Richard wanted him then.

"Oh Richard," Jared said, very softly. "Please let me take care of you. Let me make you feel good."

Richard nodded. "That sounds nice," he said, lacking the faculties to make a more cogent reply.

Jared moved on top of him and what happened next felt like a dream. Jared's mouth was hot on his throat and his hands were everywhere and when they got too warm they shimmied out of their clothes and tossed them away. They pressed themselves against each other, slick with precum. Richard closed his eyes to feel it better, the sensation of melting, the tiny gasps of pleasure Jared made in his ear as he used his hand to bring them both to climax.

Jared draped his arm over Richard as they lay panting.

Richard was certain Jared had been planning this for a long time. Silly words of praise popped into his head like bubbles. _Good job. Well done. A+._ He opened his eyes to see Jared looking pleased, and he wasn't sure if he'd said them aloud or not.

"We made a mess," said Jared. "I guess I'll have to clean it up."

Richard saw an impish light in his eye just before his head disappeared under the blanket.

"Jesus fucking Christ Jared," said Richard as Jared laved his way down his body.

~~~

In the midmorning sunshine, Richard still felt a warm glow of surreality. Jared kissed him on his neck and murmured, "Good morning."

Richard squeezed his hand.

"Morning."

Dinesh and Gilfoyle, looking slightly dazed as they sipped their respective coffee and beer, didn't say anything while Richard and Jared pulled their clothes back into their sleeping bag to get dressed.

Erlich was out cold, so Jared packed most of their stuff while he slept.

~~~

On the drive back home they both started coming down.

Richard started to feel the import of what they'd done: prickles of embarrassment, shame, and strangely, fear. _He and Jared. They had..._

"Oh dear," said Jared softly beside him, and Richard knew he felt it too. Jared's eyes became wide and sad and when he looked to him, Richard looked away.

"Are you okay?" Jared asked.

"I'm fine," said Richard, his tone making it clear that he wasn't fine.

Jared made a tiny sound that might have been a whimper, and he turned to stare fixedly out the window.

"I can get you my resignation letter this afternoon."

"What? No. No, that's stupid. Nobody's resigning," said Richard.

Jared dared a look over to him again. The pain in his eyes was so pathetically apparent. He nodded shakily. "Okay."

With eyes wide and both hands tight on the steering wheel, Dinesh looked like he wished his soul could go flying off into the wild blue Californian sky. Gilfoyle took a long draught of his beer. The tension in the van was so thick it was hard to breath.

"The fuck is going on?" demanded Erlich from where he lay in the backseat. "Who's resigning?" He sat up and looked between Jared and Richard. "Did you guys fuck last night or what?"

Nobody answered. Richard felt his face going red.

"Yep," said Gilfoyle from the front.

"We were both high! And it wasn't _fucking..._ " Richard sputtered, then stopped himself. They hadn't fucked per se but they hadn't _not_ fucked either. That was some pretty gay shit that went down last night. _Jared had... Jared had taken him half-hard in his mouth and he'd...._

Richard felt a little light headed. He had to remind himself to breath.

"What happened last night between Richard and I was a private matter. It's not up for discussion," announced Jared in a calm voice, for which Richard was so grateful.

Apparently none of the guys wanted to discuss it either, because they didn't. At least not in front of Richard and Jared, anyways.

~~~

"I'm sorry Richard," Jared told him as soon as they could find a moment to be alone.

"It's not your fault."

"I'm so, so sorry."

"I know, it's okay."

"It's not okay. You were intoxicated, your ability to consent was impaired, so technically it was -"

" _You_ were intoxicated too so like if you want to be _technical_ you could say neither of us could consent."

"So we both assaulted each other."

"So it cancels out and we're even!"

Jared shook his head. "No. It doesn't work that way. You can press charges if you want. I'll plead no contest."

" _No._ God no. Why would I even...?" Richard pinched the bridge of his nose, hard.

"I was the active partner. I - "

"Stop. No." Richard held his hands up. "I don't want to talk about it. Ever. It's fine. You don't need to quit. I don't need to quit, I mean obviously. No one's going to sue or press charges. It happened, and it was a mistake, but it's over. We just... don't have to talk about it. Okay?"

"... Okay. If that's what you want."

~~~

To say it was an elephant in the room was an understatement. It was a blue whale in the room. It was a fucking black hole. Even Gilfoyle didn't crack any jokes about how their CEO had slept with their Head of Business Development.

The room got fifty decibels quieter whenever they were both there, and Jared didn't look him in the eye for a week. Eventually, Richard realized he'd started to avoid him - he would send emails instead of walking to the next room to talk.

~~~

Richard threw himself into Tinder with no success. He swallowed his pride and sent a message to Winnie, apologizing for the whole tabs thing and begging to meet her again. She didn't reply.

He started watching more porn than usual, but he felt compelled to start cropping the screens so he could see as little of the male actors as possible. (In fact he briefly wondered if there could be any traction in an app that did the same automatically. _No Homo,_ it could be called. For men who were too insecure in their sexuality to look at another guy's dick.)

Jared stopped bringing girls home, at least for awhile. Weeks passed before Richard did finally catch him sheepishly escorting a date out of the house.

Richard fled to his room to keep himself from blurting out something stupid. A confusing swarm of feelings plagued him, too intense to articulate or even identify. Was that envy or jealousy or both? Was that shame? Anger? Regret?

Desire buzzed insistently in his ear when he realized now why women liked Jared. It was his hands. He was so terribly good with his hands.

That night Richard couldn't get to sleep without relieving his desire, all the while imagining Jared's hands on him again.

~~~

Richard borrowed Jared's car to pick up Monica from work and drive her home. He would've asked her out for coffee or lunch or a drink, but he didn't want to talk in front of other people right now.

Before she left the car to head up to her condo, he finally plucked up the courage to say, "Monica, could I talk to you about something?" His voice cracked as he fidgeted with the steering wheel.

"Uh. Sure, Richard. What's going on?"

"Nothing! Nothing's going on. I just, um. It's about our workplace relationship policy. Because I think it was cut and pasted from some other company's HR manual. I've never really understood it. I mean... how bad would it be if two employees – random employees – could be anyone," he said, aware that there were still only technically four employees and himself in the company. "Would it be really bad if two employees were, to have a sort... fling. A brief one, probably."

Monica made a face. "It wouldn't be a good idea. Sorry. Workplace romance, there's a high probability that it could end in litigation. That's why Laurie insisted it be a firing offence in Raviga's policy. She's kind of a stickler about it."

"But what about Pied Piper's policy. I mean, can anyone be fired?" He didn't want to ask if the CEO could be fired, because then it would be pretty damn obvious he was talking about himself. 

"Pied Piper's policy was actually cut and pasted from Raviga, so yes, the board could fire anyone. So wait, this isn't about me?"

"Ah, no."

"Oh thank god. Ah, I mean..." Monica paused as her train of thought abruptly switched tracks. "Richard, is there something going on at Pied Piper that I should know about?"

Richard wanted to tell her, but at the same time he was too mortified to talk to anyone about it. Not with Erlich, not with Big Head, not anyone.

"Nothing, really. It'll blow over. Nothing to worry about."

~~~

Richard took the stand.

"Please state your name for the record," said Pete Monahan.

"It's Richard Hendricks," he stammered into the microphone.

"Now Richard," Pete said to him, leaning in. "Please tell the court. What is your sexual orientation?"

"Ahh...." Richard sweated in his seat. He looked out at all the people who had gathered to testify. His parents, his teachers. His coaches from grade school who never could teach him to throw a ball. The girlfriends he'd left wanting. That boy from math camp who'd let him tag along with him all week. Had he known about Richard's pathetic crush, when at the time Richard hadn't known himself?

And there was Jared, sitting unhappily flanked by Gavin Belson and his team of legal pit bulls.

 _Mr. Dunn,_ that shrewish lawyer would surely ask him, _how many times did he ejaculate during your encounter?_

 _Twice,_ Jared would say hesitantly into the microphone. _It was twice._

Richard gulped. He cleared his throat.

Pete covered the microphone with his hand.

"It's okay, Richard. You can tell the truth," Pete said, his voice as always, grave but kind. Pete was on his side - Richard knew he would surely understand. It was everyone else he was afraid of.

Richard wiped sweat from his temple. "I'm heterosexual," he finally said, his heart pounding in his ear.

The room erupted in hisses and boos. The judge pounded his gavel.

"Perjury! I find you guilty of perjury!" announced the judge.

"No - that's ridiculous!" sputtered Richard as bailiffs arrived to drag him to jail. "This trial isn't about perjury. And it's a civil court, you can't give me jail time for my sexuality! I'm pretty sure this isn't how the legal system works!"

~~~

Richard woke up, heart pounding, soaking wet. Oh _god damn_ not another night sweat!

What made it worse was that Jared was there to witness him putting his sheets in the washing machine. He looked away, but Richard was sure that he'd seen, judging by the concern knitting his brow. Nobody else was up yet, but of course Jared would be at work in the kitchen already.

Richard spilled detergent on his hands. He slammed the washing machine door and briefly couldn't remember what setting he should use. He never really knew which one was correct in the first place.

"Jared, do you-?" he said before he could stop himself. And once it was out there was no putting it back now. He turned around. Leaned back against the machine.

"Doesn't it bother your dates that you're not straight? I didn't know girls were into that kind of thing."

Jared put his hands on his lap and gave him that look – that goddamn look – of infinite patience and sympathy.

"It doesn't usually come up. Most of my dates are casual. Purely physical, really."

For some reason that lit a spark of rage inside Richard.

"You mean you don't tell them? That you're like... bisexual? Because that's a pretty big lie of omission."

"Oh Richard," Jared said. "One homosexual encounter doesn't change who you are. You can still identify as straight if that's what you want."

Richard wiped his hands on his pants and looked down to the floor while he took a moment to digest this. Jared was always more perceptive than he gave him credit for. Richard wished that he'd never opened his mouth, but here he was, still smouldering with resentment.

"No offence or anything, but that didn't seem like your first encounter." Richard said, his ears red.

"None taken. It wasn't. But I largely prefer women, so I don't see a reason to make that part of myself crucial my identity." Jared shrugged.

Richard nodded, still looking down. "You seem pretty chill about all of this."

Jared nodded gravely. "I've given it a lot of though. We can talk more if you want."

"No. No talking, remember?"

"Okay. If that's what you want."

~~~

Less than a week after that, Jared came to interrupt him in his bedroom while he was working.

“Richard, there’s something we need to discuss… something I need to give you.”

Jared passed him a stack of papers on a  clipboard, as well as a pen. The paper on top read ‘Letter of Resignation’ and it was already signed and dated.

“No, Jared, we talked about this.”

“In point of fact Richard we decided not to talk about it. But Richard… we have to.” He spread his hands in a pleading gesture that Richard knew well. It was the one he used when he was right. “Surely you’ve noticed. What happened between us, it’s starting to affect our work. Both mine and yours. It’s not good for the Pied Piper, and it’s not good for us. So –“

Richard opened his mouth to protest but Jared continued. “So please hear me out. I’ve already taken the liberty of contacting a handful of candidates whom I know personally, who would be excellent to fill my role here. Their CV’s are under that stack. And…” Jared hesitated, his expression taking on a guarded sadness. “I’ve already accepted a position with Chiosquare. They’re scaling up, and they need someone with my expertise. It’s a good fit, and they’ve offered a very generous medical package. Richard… I’ve already signed my contract. It’s done.”

“You just decided, without even telling me.”

“I knew you would try to talk me out of it. But this is for the best, Richard. It is.”

Richard knew that if he begged, Jared would stay. But he knew that Jared was right, so he didn’t try to argue. He texted Erlich, who came in to sign as witness.

“You’re a good man, Donald, This company wouldn’t have been the same without you,” said Erlich as he shook Jared’s hand.

Richard wondered if Erlich had been expecting this, or was he really just capable of finding the right things to say at the right time. He wondered what that was like.

When Erlich left and they were alone again, Richard fidgeted helplessly. Jared moved in for a hug, from which Richard backed away.

"So. You know what? I'm not your boss now. And you're not the boss of me either." That sounded a lot more clever in his head. "So you know what? I'll identify however I want. I can be, you know, loud and proud. And maybe I am someone who –" Richard couldn't even get the word out. "Someone who wants to go on dates with other guys. Because maybe I want to go out on a date with you? Since it's allowed now. Like dinner or something–"

"I'd love that."

"–Even though I know you don't identify as –"

"I'd make an exception. You would be an exception."

"–I mean we don't have to march in a pride parade or anything–"

"I'd march in a pride parade for you. I'd dance on a float if you wanted."

Even that mental image wasn't enough to break through the wall of Richard's anxiety, even though he'd said what he wanted to say, and he hadn't been refused.

"I know. I know you would, Jared," Richard said, and for just a moment he remembered the way he felt in that tent, in their sleeping bag. He _did_ know how Jared felt about him, and he knew how he felt about Jared. But where, in the tent, his fear of knowing had been temporarily removed by whatever drug they'd taken, here and now, he faced it.

"Dinner first. Or a movie or something. Then, you know... the rest." The rest meaning the future, and wherever that led, bedrooms and pride parades and all.

Jared moved closer, gently, and just when Richard though they were going to hug, Jared surprised him with a kiss instead.

 

The End

**Author's Note:**

> *hides* I know some of these devices have been explored in other fic, but I've been itching for an excuse to write a follow-up fic to Richard's heterosexual declaration. I hope you like it!


End file.
